This invention relates to a poultry gizzard inspection station for use in a poultry processing plant, wherein the poultry gizzards which have been previously split and peeled are inspected and sorted. Those gizzards needing re-peeling are separated from the other properly peeled gizzards and peeled.
In poultry processing plants where poultry is slaughtered and prepared for market, it is common practice to remove the gizzards and other viscera from the birds, detach the other viscera from the gizzards, cut open or "split" the gizzards and remove or "peel" the inner lining from the gizzards. Various machines have been developed and are in use which perform the splitting and peeling functions. Because poultry gizzards are relatively tough and therefore difficult to split and peel, the equipment used in peeling the gizzards frequently fails to properly remove the linings from the gizzards. The gizzards must be inspected in the processing plant after the machine peeling step, and those gizzards that have not been properly peeled musted be re-peeled. The inspection and re-peeling of the gizzards requires the presence and attention of a worker at each gizzard processing line and is considered by most poultry processers to be an expensive process. The worker is usually required to manually remove the gizzards which require re-peeling from those that have been properly peeled and place the gizzards to be re-peeled against a pair of counter-rotating meshed peeler rolls which catch the lining of the gizzards between their teeth and pull the lining away from the gizzard.